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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26299864">Begin Again (Part 3 - Down Under)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/N448/pseuds/N448'>N448</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Begin Again [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Splatoon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Brainwashing, Drama, Hero Mode (Splatoon), Multi, Octo Expansion DLC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:15:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>17,548</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26299864</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/N448/pseuds/N448</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>(Two stories of the worlds beneath Inkopolis, involving the New Squidbeak Splatoon.)</p><p>A year after Lily's arrival in Inkopolis, she's prouder than ever to call herself an Inkling. And as the Chaos v. Order Splatfest looms ever closer, her friends have gotten her some gifts to mark the anniversary, including a part in the final concert, clothes, inkling oddities - even DJ Octavio got her a pair of shades!</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>---</p><p>CQ Cumber, train conductor and former co-owner of Kamabo Co., still has troubled thoughts about the Deepsea Metro Testing Track, of which he was part of for decades. Last year, two strange creatures exposed the lie of Kamabo's Metro, and escaped - and then the Testing Track was switched off for good.</p><p>So who can he call when odd things start to happen around the Metro once again?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Agent 3/Agent 8 (Splatoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Begin Again [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1201468</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Final Fest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello to new and returning readers!</p><p>First, a bit of housekeeping - I've left the Stories Of An Ex-Human 'incomplete' in case I decide to add more short stories in the future. Any new stories won't be limited to the 'timeskip' the original chapters are kept in though, so they could take place during or even after the events of the other fics.</p><p>Secondly - please note the Mature rating for this fic. This is a step up from the rest of this series which has been rated Teen. To explain - there will be more talk of/references to adult themes than in previous fics, especially in later chapters. (Think of some of the dialogue in the last 'timeskip' chapter of Stories Of An Ex-Human as an example.)<br/>This is mainly because my interpretation of Octarian society is that they are generally sexually casual and  - more comfortable with being naked around each other for example - and that DJ Octavio is generally just a pervert flirting with some of the characters and using his power to get what he wants.<br/>My intention is to never get into 'explicit' territory, but I'll nonetheless telegraph when a particularly egregious scene is about to occur and provide some means to show where to skip to.</p><p>With that said, a grand new adventure with the Agents is about to begin! Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Look, I’m not saying nothing should ever change… I just want to protect the balance I’ve found in my life.”</p><p>As the crowd of people watched in Inkopolis Square, and many more tuned in over the radio or on TV, Pearl and Marina were getting themselves worked up over the topic of the Splatfest they were in the middle of announcing.</p><p>Two+ years of being on the air, of the continued success of Off the Hook, of being the representatives for this Splatfest season, was culminating in this coming month.</p><p>And boy, this one was a doozy. ‘What kind of world do you wanna live in’, indeed.</p><p>Marina took a deep breath, and uncovered her face. The discussion had brought up a few sensitive memories, and she had needed a few moments to collect her thoughts. “Don’t… don’t you think it’s important to create a place where we can all feel safe and secure?” she asked her cohost, with a hint of concern.</p><p>“Not if it means living in a world where everything is predictable,” was Pearl’s immediate response. Pearl had a <em>point</em>, but it seemed more than any other Splatfest that the hosts were talking past each other. Not that most of the kids playing Turf War minded - they <em>loved</em> the drama that came with Splatfests.</p><p>“I mean, look,” Pearl continued, adjusting herself in her seat. “I’m not saying I wanna watch the world <em>burn</em>. I just want it to <em>change</em>. Daily,” she threw in as a hasty addition. “I wanna go skydiving one day, walk away from explosions the next, and chill at home in my jammies the next.”</p><p>“Pearl, you can already do those things. Today.”</p><p>“Heck no I can’t!” Pearl spat. “It’s always ‘work’ this, ‘meeting’ that! ‘Social taboos’!” She had no idea where she actually wanted to go with this, knowing she was still beholden to the people that kept them on the air. “I just wanna do something new, every single day. Make something new, eat something new! Anything less is <em>boring</em>!”</p><p>Marina’s eyes went wide, and she seemed to have been hurt by her words. “Sure but… ‘make something new’? That could lead to Off the Hook breaking up!”</p><p>“Oh my cod! Are you <em>squidding me</em> right now?!” Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing deeply, taking a deep breath. Pulling out her phone to make sure she was thinking of the right article, she stated, “I’m so done with this. I hereby… (yep, okay) …invoke Article 4 of Splatfest Law.”</p><p>Marina’s mouth dropped. Her hands snapped up to cover it.</p><p>“That means,” Pearl continued with a smirk, “the losing side has to accept the world the winning side wants.”</p><p>“…you wouldn’t,” Marina breathed.</p><p>“Juuuust did.”</p><p>It took a few seconds for Marina to parse what Pearl had just pulled.</p><p>She’d noticed Pearl checking her phone, and realised her cohost had been thinking about this for a while, since they had both known about the upcoming Splatfest topic for a just under three days, prior to announcing it today.</p><p>Where Marina had had her own thoughts about how to interpret ‘order’, it seemed to her that Pearl’s idea of chaos was to literally change <em>everything</em>.</p><p>And that frightened her.</p><p>“…But…” Marina finally stuttered. “If… if your side wins, what’s going to happen to Inkopolis?”</p><p>Pearl, incredibly, <em>shrugged</em> at her, making a vague “i’unno” noise. “I’ll figure it out during the Splatfest.”</p><p>
  <em>She hadn’t even thought about it yet?!</em>
</p><p>“And this last Splatfest is gonna be three whole days, so you’d better think about it too, ’Rina.”</p><p>Marina let out a sharp exhale, turning away from Pearl, the camera and the teleprompters for a few moments. “Hoooo….boy…”</p><p>This had gotten <em>real</em>.</p><p>The octoling thought back to when she had first met Pearl, up on Mount Nantai all those years ago. Exiled by her former band, she had gone up to scream and vent her frustrations at the world. Marina, newly-escaped, could hear her powerful voice from miles away.</p><p>And throughout their working relationship, she had seen plenty of instances of Pearl wanting to ‘burn it all to the ground’ when things seemed particularly unfair.</p><p>And now the Splatfest shrine wanted to give <em>her</em> the reins to the city.</p><p>She loved Pearl, but she was certain that not a lot of people would enjoy Pearl’s idea of ‘chaos’… This couldn’t stand.</p><p><em>…Well, I suppose that if</em> I <em>won, I could tweak things here and there in my favour…</em></p><p><em>But man… why put this in</em> our <em>laps, Splatfest shrine…?!</em></p><p>Marina took deep breaths, thinking hard.</p><p>“…OK.” She slowly turned back. “I… guess then that I’m gonna have to start designing <em>my</em> perfect world.”</p><p>“You get on that,” Pearl nodded, still smirking. “We’ve got four weeks to prepare. And not just our plans for Inkopolis,” she added, the smirk becoming a teasing grin. “Like some special gear?”</p><p>“…Oh! Right, um, yes!” Marina had managed to forget for just a moment that there was <em>other</em> stuff going on for this fest finale. “We are collaborating with two different labels to bring everyone some exclusive gear just for this Splatfest!”</p><p>“And Marina’s handing me the reins for her final Shifty Station,” Pearl grinned. “Everything aside, we’re gonna bring y’all the best Shifty we can. Worthy of the finale.”</p><p>“Oh! AND,” Marina squealed, starting to get excited again. “we’ll be bringing you all a very special Splatfest show, all three nights! We’re gonna send off this season with a <em>bang</em>!”</p><p>“That’s the spirit!” Pearl smiled. “We’ll bring you more details closer to the big event, so all of you, go vote for your side, and next month, fi… <em>play</em> like the world depends on it!”</p>
<hr/><p>“…I can’t believe you just did that.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t have had to if you had stopped taking it all so seriously.”</p><p>“Pearl, you <em>had it on your phone</em>!”</p><p>Pearl and Marina, after the show, were bickering in the studio. Passersby glanced in through the windows with varying amounts of concern and excitement as Marina paced about the studio floor, having relapsed into anxiety while Pearl watched with some amusement from her chair.</p><p>“Well yeah, had to make sure I was thinking of the right law,” the inkling said casually as her partner anxiously passed by her for the nth time. “Again, you’re taking this way too seriously.”</p><p>“You’re not taking it seriously <em>enough</em>!” Marina gasped at her. “Splatfest isn’t the time to enforce your anarchic anti-capitalist fantasies upon everyone!”</p><p>“It’s not any of that! Besides, they’d tear me apart in an anti-capitalist society anyway cuz I’m still rich.” Pearl shrugged. “Ya need to chill, ’Rina. We’ll figure out what we want.”</p><p>“But <em>think</em> about it!” Marina stopped and turned to face her, distressed. “The world might fall apart! <em>We</em> might fall apart!”</p><p>“…Why, though?” Pearl raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“Well what about Off the Hook?!”</p><p>“What <em>about</em> Off the Hook?” She tilted her head quizically.</p><p>Marina stared at her for a few moments. “Ugh! Nevermind…” She strode from the room. “I need a drink.”</p><p>“Don’t go too far!” Pearl called after her. “We’ve got that thing to go to, remember?”</p><p>Pearl wasn’t sure if she’d heard. She sighed and flopped back in her chair. It was hard to calm Marina when she was like this. Sometimes it felt like she would get an idea out of thin air and run with it - like the many times she had had to try to convince Marina that, yes, Inkopolis still loved her, and no, everyone had not suddenly learned what Octolings were.</p><p>And Pearl appreciated that Marina was on Team Order because she didn’t want to lose what she’d earned. But that was Pearl’s point - if she didn’t leave that bubble, even a little bit, she’d miss out on tons of unique experiences! She’d miss out on opportunities to reimagine herself, redefine who she was!</p><p>She freely admitted to herself that she had a bone to pick about her own past, though.</p><p>Sometimes she regretted her upbringing. It was only because she wanted to connect more with the people of Inkopolis than with the rich socialites and CEOs of Inkopolis that she had had her rebellious punk phase.</p><p>That phase had led to her exile from her former band, and the discovery of what she had heard called ‘the voice to end all voices’.</p><p>That said she was amazed that her parents still did a lot to support her, even if sometimes it was simply financial support.</p><p>And they had supported her when she started Off the Hook with Marina, moreso than she had expected. Maybe they were just glad to see her become less of a punk and - well, more of a ‘princess’.</p><p>They’d done this gig for a good while, and it had been wonderful, performing around Inkopolis in all the different clubs and stadiums and arenas. To Pearl, she just… felt it was time for a fresh change of pace.</p><p>And if she could help creativity bloom in Inkopolis at the same time, all the better.</p><p>
  <em>Oof… Maybe I wouldn’t wanna do anything too rash though. Don’t wanna hurt my family after everything they’ve done for me.</em>
</p><p>“…Huhhhh…”</p><p>That was gonna take some thinking.</p>
<hr/><p>The Inkopolis Botanical Gardens, for which the Inkopolis Gardens suburb is named, is a large park in a less dense part of the city in which all sorts of marine life can walk amongst nature.</p><p>Paths through the gardens gently wound around its many plants and flowers, and there were plenty of benches for walkers to rest, if they didn’t want to sit on the grass, under one of the many trees that grew throughout the area.</p><p>The canopies cast much of the park in soft shadows, and as two particular inklings travelled down the paths, one of them thought to themselves how nice it was not to have the sun shining directly on them for a while.</p><p>Lily Sunden and Lorne Wye would have been together for a year in just two weeks’ time, and this walk through the Gardens was partially to relax and chat about what they wanted to do for their anniversary.</p><p>Plus, there was a spot in the park that Lorne thought Lily would enjoy, and so - even if to Lily the reasoning felt suss - the former was leading them as they talked.</p><p>“I was kinda thinking, why don’t we go to a later movie showing and have a fancy dinner before? There’s that restaurant in Central the girls recommended.”</p><p>Lily glanced over at her partner, thinking. “A night screening sounds like a fun idea, I’ve only been to one of those before. What kinda food do they serve at that place again?”</p><p>“Nuh uh, Lily.” Lorne shook her head disapprovingly. “We’re not doing this. I’m <em>sure</em> you can actually <em>eat</em> the stuff they’ll serve there.”</p><p>“But what if I don’t end up liking it? I’ll look like an ass if I just send it back or just pick at it!”</p><p>“You literally won’t, Lily. Besides, you’ve got <em>my</em> tastes, and I don’t have a problem with a lot of what’s on their menu.”</p><p>“…Mmm.” Lily bit her lip. She tried to come up with a rebuttal, but she couldn’t think of one, so she simply nodded.</p><p>She supposed she couldn’t fight that.</p><p>Though Lily had recently cut her hair down to a more manageable length, and the two girls had different tastes in clothing, she started her new life as almost a clone of Lorne physically - transformed via submersion in her ink. She gradually made her own look over the course of the past year, but the most drastic change so far had been with the birth of ‘DJ Neu Wave’, a persona of hers. With it she’d changed her public look quite drastically.</p><p>On the inside she was still the same person she’d always been - shy, quiet, slightly obsessive. Few saw the moments when she lashed out - when she lost control of her emotions.</p><p>And only a select few knew that Lily wasn’t born an inkling at all.</p><p>She had spent most of her life as a human, hailing from a time where humans flourished on Earth.</p><p>But she had started to distance herself from that life and embrace marine society, especially in the past six months. Now, she barely considered herself ex-human at all.</p><p>But elements of her old life still seeped through, such as her love of nature, which had led to today’s walk.</p><p>“Hey,” Lorne said, waving her hand in front of Lily’s face. “Y’alright in there, hun?”</p><p>“Huh? Oh, sorry.” The other inkling shook the thoughts from her head. “Just sorta thinking back on everything. This park is lovely, I can’t believe we’ve never been down this way before.”</p><p>“I’ve been a few times,” Lorne replied, smiling. “I mean, not since you arrived, but I know where the best spots are.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>“Follow me,” she said, and took off down the left split of a fork in the path, headed toward a hedged area. Lily matched her pace.</p><p>“Okaaay,” Lily acquiesced and stepped up to a jog. “I’m like, certain you have some ulterior motive now though. We’ve <em>never</em> been to this park before!”</p><p>“Chill, Lil’!” Lorne smiled back at her. “I just want to show you the thing. It’s a real nice park, really!”</p><p>Lorne led Lily down the path for another minute, through a hedged sculpture and what seemed like a series of mazes happening around the park. She finally stopped when the path led up a slight rise in the terrain and a single locked gate blocked off one such hedgeway. This seemed to be a private space and a sign on the gate itself stated that penalties would be enforced for any trespassers. Anyone with the right key could get in, but they didn’t have it, of course.</p><p>“Juuust gotta get in here…” Lorne examined the gate door closely - it was corrugated metal, with not much in the way of footholds to climb. The square poles that the door connected to, though… Lorne felt that perhaps she could use those to get up and over. That said… “OK, I have an idea. Lily, get up here, give me a lift.”</p><p>“Lorne, what are you doing?” Lily asked with a raised eyebrow as she walked up to the gate.</p><p>“It’s fine. C’mon.” Lily reluctantly lowered herself onto her knees, and felt Lorne’s weight as the inkling climbed up onto her shoulders. As she stood back up, Lorne also began to stand, and Lily glanced up as her partner was able to easily climb up and over the gate, leaving Lily on the other side.</p><p>Moments later, the gate opened on the other side, and Lorne was there. “Told you. Come on, Lil’, it’s just ahead.”</p><p>Past the gate, more hedges lined a short winding path into the main area of the garden, where–</p><p>“SURPRIIIISE!”</p><p>Lily squeaked, almost jumping out of her skin at the sudden noise as she and Lorne were suddenly greeted by a group of their friends.</p><p>Not just any old friends, though.</p><p>These people were the New Squidbeak Splatoon, of which they were a part.</p><p>They were all here, gathered and seated on the grass around a picnic rug.</p><p>Cap’n Craig Cuttlefish, the Splatoon’s leader, smiled warmly up at the girls, next to a portable stereo and a few bags and boxes.</p><p>Callie and Marie Calamari - Agents 1 and 2, as well as the Squid Sisters - waved up at them, having been in the middle of talking with…</p><p>…Remo Redd - Agent 3 - who stood and nodded at them with a smile…</p><p>…and Agent Eight - er, Agent 8 - who approached them with a grin, embracing Lily and Lorne. “Happy anniversary, Lily,” he said softly.</p><p>“Eh?” Lily blushed and glanced at Lorne as Eight hugged them. “A bit early, but uh, wow, hey guys, thank you…”</p><p>Marie shook her head with a chuckle. “It’s been a year now since you arrived in Inkopolis, Lily.”</p><p>“That’s right!” Craig called, raising a bottle of what seemed like apple cider. “And why not have an overdue get-together to celebrate one of our Agents?”</p><p>“What? You guys kept track of that?” Lily blushed deeply, and turned to Lorne. “You knew, didn’t you?”</p><p>“’Course.” Lorne giggled, and hugged her as well. “We wouldn’t forget such an important event, are you kidding?” With a smirk, she nudged her along into the group.</p><p>“But what about the key?? Are we supposed to be here…?”</p><p>Lorne, in response, grinned and produced the key from her pocket. “Yeah, Callie booked the place for a few hours. And I had to play the part, y’know.”</p><p>“Hah. Well… you got me. T-thanks everyone…” Lily smiled, her face lighting up, as she took a seat with her friends around the picnic rug, next to Craig. The two shared a gentle fist-bump.</p><p>“How’ve ya been, kiddo?” Craig asked her as Lorne took her seat and began to talk with the others. He was wearing the green outfit he used to wear back in his time in the Deepsea Metro. “What’s it been, a few months since I last got to hang out with you?”</p><p>“Something like that. Time flies, dunnit?” Lily replied back with a smile. “I haven’t been too bad. Having a lot of fun with the shows I’ve been doing lately. Oh, would you please, Cap?” She took one of the paper cups that Marie was offering to the group.</p><p>“Of course.” Craig opened the bottle of cider, smiling as he filled Lily’s drink with the frothy liquid, then poured some into his own cup. “Would you, Callie, dear?” He held the open bottle toward his granddaughter.</p><p>“Sure, Gramps!” Callie took it and began to fill hers and the others’ cups. “When’re we gonna give her the stuff?!”</p><p>“Chill, cous’.” Marie glanced over at Lily with a smirk. “Yeah, we got together to pick something out for you. I think Eight and Remo got you something too.”</p><p>Remo nodded, glancing over at Eight and smiling warmly.</p><p>“We’ll get to it,” Craig smiled at them, nodding. “We’re just waiting on someone.”</p><p>“Ah, alright… Man, you guys didn’t need to get me anything.” Lily blushed and covered her mouth.</p><p>“Shhhh, course we did,” Marie smirked. “We’re basically family!”</p><p>“You three <em>are</em> family!” Lily grinned.</p><p>“Yeah, and we look after the four of you, so. Far as I’m concerned, we’re all family. So nyeh.” Marie poked her tongue out toward Lily, and before Lily could come up with a response, the conversation had already moved on.</p><p>As the group began to talk with each other and settle in, catching up with each other with everything that they had been doing over the past few months, Lily relaxed and drank with the others.</p><p>After talking more with Craig about what they had both been up to, trading stories, he began to talk with Lorne and Marie and Lily walked over to join Eight and Remo, who had gotten together about two months ago.</p><p>The two were an interesting combination, and she had thought when they had first hooked up that Eight would be too much for the inkling boy. After all, Remo had traded most of the time he <em>would</em> have spent exploring relationships and his sexuality to become Agent 3 and defend Inkopolis (and the Metro) with Craig - and as a result was shy and slightly timid in a relationship setting, which Lily found amusing in comparison to Eight, who as she discovered came from a more sexually casual society. Eight, however, had taken it in stride, and was gentle and caring with his partner, at least around Lily - not forcing Remo into even something as little as holding hands if he sensed the inkling felt uncomfortable.</p><p>Eight also happily chatted about his time in an all-octoling Tower Control team, and how they were practicing and climbing the ranks. Like Lorne and her Splat Zone squad - the West Inkopolis Warriors - he had gotten into ranked battle and was happily sticking with it. It seemed the skills he and his teammates had honed underground, and his own time in the Deepsea Metro - a nightmare he regardless wished he could undo - made them a challenge for anyone who opposed them.</p><p>Callie and Marie’s new album as the Squid Sisters was going well, as they told it, if slow-going. It was a choice they had made after the events of last year - a recommitment to each other, and a decision to diversify, even if a little, from their iconic S-Pop style. As part of the production they had chosen to include two choice songs from their solo albums, and record a new song incorporating them both - Marie had told Lily that they had performed it quite accidentally last year in Octo Valley, and had decided to persue the idea further.</p><p>They weren’t sure when the album would be done, though their producers were trying to push things along - but felt that they were close to a stopping point and hoped that the agents would give it a listen.</p><p>And as for Craig… though he dabbled in rap in his spare time, and had hung out with Off the Hook on occasion and chatted (and rapped) with them when they weren’t touring, nothing really stopped his vigilance for the New Squidbeak Splatoon. A lot of that time was now spent in Inkopolis, keeping an ear out for gossip or rumors.</p><p>But for the time being, there seemed nothing to report. It had been the case for a few short months.</p><p>And that in itself was cause for celebration.</p><p>“Heyoooo~!”</p><p>A few heads turned as two more girls approached the group from the gate - Pearl and Marina, as it turned out. Both of them were still in their iconic clothing from doing the news.</p><p>“Hi, everyone!” Marina gave a little wave as they both sat down with the group. “Morning, Lily! Happy anniversary! You doing well?”</p><p>“Good, thank you! Yourself?” Lily gestured for the cider bottle, and poured two more cups for the girls.</p><p>“Uhh - yeah I’m fine!” Marina nervously chuckled. “Just, y’know, Splatfest announcement day, things got a little heated…”</p><p>“Yeah, you guys see the news this morning?” Pearl took the cup that Lily offered and took a swig.</p><p>Lily shook her head. “No, sorry. I missed the morning bulletin walking out here with Lorne.”</p><p>“We did!” Eight grinned up at them, and wrapped an arm around Remo’s shoulder. “You two doing okay?”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, yeah we’re fine, Eight. Thanks. It’s all a show and all, hahah…” Marina’s face was telling a slightly different story, though.</p><p>With Off the Hook joining them, Marie and Craig felt ready to give Lily’s gifts, and begin the picnic in earnest. As the group unpacked the food from the various bags, Marie gestured toward Callie, who grinned excitedly and slid over a short but large box to Lily. “So, I know you told us not to go overboard, but blame our folks back home for most of this.”</p><p>Callie, Marie and Craig watched intently as Lily lifted the lid on the box, greeted with a carefully folded and pressed sky-blue apron, matching Lily’s ink color. On top of the apron sat a woven headband and wooden sandals. “What <em>is</em> this…?” Lily asked as she lifted out the headband and sandals. It seemed obvious to her that whoever had prepared it had taken proper care to maintain and present it. “It looks like an outfit of some kind…”</p><p>“It sure is!” Callie grinned. “This is a traditional garb that inkling cultures wore back in the day.”</p><p>“Or <em>still</em> wear, for large ceremonies,” added Craig, with a warm smile. “The folks of Calimari County still involve these old-fashioned outfits for their celebrations.”</p><p>“Right… Wow.” Lily was in awe as she carefully lifted the apron out, to find a traditional shirt underneath. The shirt was folded such that its black hem was prominent. “So which part of this is your parents’ doing?”</p><p>“To be honest, pretty much all of it.” Marie chuckled. “We told them you were interested in ‘lifestyles outside Inkopolis’, and asked if they would have a shirt made. They sent back, well… all of this.”</p><p>“That’s… wow, that’s incredible. I’m gonna have to find some time to try this on. Thank you so much…” Lily smiled widely, and leaned over to hug the three of them, one at a time. “I promise I’ll take good care of this.”</p><p>“I’m sure you will,” Craig nodded, smiling.</p><p>“Hey, We got something for ya too!” Remo smiled as Lily carefully put the traditional outfit back into the box. He grinned at her as she handed her a much smaller box, inside which sat a fishing lure, with pink, yellow and sky-blue feathers. “I know it’s probably not much to you,” Remo commented, “but when you asked us to get you something ‘uniquely Inkling’, this was one of the first ideas we had. The idea is, if I may demonstrate…”</p><p>He paused as she took the lure and hooked it into the belt of Eight’s jeans. “So, the idea is that you would display it if you wanted to attract a mate. But, y’know, you’ve got Lorne ‘n’ all, and…”</p><p>“I feel like you knew about the colors. What they mean.” Lily gestured at the colors of each feather.</p><p>“Yeahhh, Eight suggested it.”</p><p>“Well, he’s right on the money.” She grinned and plucked the lure from Eight’s pants, and tucked it into her own. “That’s so cool! Thanks, guys!”</p><p>“Hey, what? You two gave her a <em>lure</em>?” Lorne had glanced over and seen the feathers hanging off of Lily’s hip. “Whose idea was that?”</p><p>“It’s a <em>cultural</em> gift, relax!” Eight chuckled. “I promise I’m not into her, Four. Although…~”</p><p>Lily’s face went red, which was immediately followed by hearty laughter from Eight as she handed the lure to Lily. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Enjoy it, Lily!”</p><p>“I-I will, thanks…” Lily mumbled, still blushing.</p><p>After that, everyone sat down to eat. The gathering was relaxed as everyone shared stories, and there was a general feeling of excitement in the air as everyone hung out with each other as one group, something they had not done in months.</p><p>At one stage, after the meal, Callie was so eager to see Lily wear the traditional clothing that she convinced the other to head behind one of the hedges and change clothes - Callie assisting her in putting it on, helping her to wear it correctly as a matter of family pride.</p><p>When the two emerged a few minutes later, the inkling blushing hard but smiling and wearing the outfit well thanks to Callie, the others gathered cheered her on, and after Craig and the Calamari Cousins had had their photo taken to send back home, the rest of the gathering piled in for a big reunion photo to comemmorate the event. It was a photo full of smiles, none wider than Lily, who was thrilled to have been surprised for such an occasion - she hadn’t even thought much about her arrival date being anything to celebrate, even if it had changed her life, like anyone else gathered today.</p><p>As the gathering started to lull, and everyone was stood and chatting in little pockets, Pearl and Marina arpproached her and Lorne as they chatted about the morning’s surprises and their plans for the rest of the day. “Yo, Lily!” Pearl called out. “Pretty good morning, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah!” Lily smiled up at them. “Thanks for coming out!”</p><p>“Yeah, thanks for showing up, girls,” Lorne smiled.</p><p>“No worries at all, thank you for having us.” Marina smiled, leaning her head forward in a slight bow. “Sorry we didn’t bring you anything.”</p><p>“Psshhh, it’s fine! I’m just happy to have everyone here.” Lily bowed her head as well.</p><p>“Of course!” Pearl grinned and leaned in. “But, hey, while we were here, we wanted to talk to you about some idea we had.”</p><p>“Alright, shoot.”</p><p>Pearl and Marina glanced around despite themselves, and inched closer to the girls. Lily and Lorne inched closer so that the four formed a circle.</p><p>In a conspiratorial whisper, Pearl began, “Well, we have an idea for something we want to do for Splatfest…”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Neu Wave Music</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lily entertains the club as her DJ persona.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You can find the set mix I built to base this chapter around here: <a href="http://files.neurario.com/Mixes/DJ%20Neu%20Wave%20-%20Starfish%20Bar%20Set%20for%20Begin%20Again%203-2.mp3">"DJ Neu Wave - Starfish Bar Set for Begin Again 3-2.mp3"</a><br/>(One day I will have some sort of YouTube stream of this...)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>Final Fest: T-minus three weeks.</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><div class="line-block">
  <p>
    <em>“It’s amazing.”</em><br/>
<em>“What?”</em><br/>
<em>“Yes, yes… absolutely amazing.”</em><br/>
<em>“Uh… well I-I… I don’t understand.”</em><br/>
<em>“Yes, yes… It’s amazing.”</em><br/>
<em>“Ahhh…huh!”</em><br/>
<em>“Let me, ah… let me explain.”</em>
  </p>
</div><p>Two people speaking, a young woman and an older man.</p><p>Specifically, two humans. From sample audio taken twelve millenia ago.</p><p>The dim maroon lights in the club began to twitch and flash in different colors as the man’s speech was distorted as if through a vinyl, but DJ Neu Wave, the Starfish Bar’s regular Friday night DJ, had not yet walked onto the stage yet. As with a few of their recent shows, they played an intro of some kind to set the tone, and get the crowd hyped.</p><p>Neu Wave’s DJing danced between plenty of different genres, but always had a root - she played heavily with tracks from the human era, and she often mixed them together to create mashups. Now and then she would mix a human-era song with a marine-era track, which tended to bring joy to the crowd.</p><p>The lights settled back into their dim red as the sampled speech was suddenly cut short.</p><p>And as the intro hit a lull, DJ Neu Wave - Lily - strode from a staff door behind the stage, the regular clubgoers cheering. Neu Wave smiled and waved at them, getting behind her console and immediately cueing up some settings before the track started proper.</p>
<p></p><div class="line-block">
  <p>
    <em>“How beautiful…”</em><br/>
<em>“Yes, yes… …Absolutely amazing.”</em>
  </p>
</div><p>On the ‘may’ of ‘amazing’, the LEDs and lights burst into action - pulsing with white light while the screen behind Neu Wave finally lit up and was showing a sort of visualizer for the music. With a cheer, the inklings, octolings and other marine life on the dancefloor started to move to the slow but pounding beat.</p><p>Up on stage, Neu Wave bounced to the beat. She was especially excited to present tonight’s show, having the biggest news of her career yet.</p><p>At her command, the light show slowly evolved through the first song and into the second, changing from white wavy lights and LEDs to brilliant color - and taking on the iconic hues of Off the Hook as their song ‘Nasty Majesty’ came in as a mashup over the song’s breakdown, which made the crowd light up and cheer.</p><p>And at the rear of the crowd, chilling and enjoying the show quietly at a table, were Pearl and Marina. Wearing different clothing so as to keep their identities secret, they had asked to attend Lily’s show to see her perform in her native environment. She’d shared her mashups with the duo before, and they’d seen clips from her shows on social media, but now that they would be working together… well, why not check her solo performance out?</p><p>It was only after the second song when there was a lull in the music’s energy long enough for the DJ to greet the crowd, nine minutes in. “How y’all doin’?! You READY FOR THIS?” She called out to the dance floor. Many of the regulars whooped and cheered in response, and Lily’s grin widened. “Glad to see the regulars out there!”</p><p>She took a breath, pausing for a moment. “This’ll be my last show for a few weeks, I want to get that out of the way. Big reasons why, I’ll get into it later. But I know what you came here for! C’mon everyone, <em>MAKE SOME NOIIIIISE!</em>”</p><p>The small crowd on the dancefloor roared in approval as the lights faded from their white colors to red as the next song was a bit dark. Lily saluted again and glanced down at her decks and her laptop again.</p><p>The club would become quite colourful with the next few mashups, in fact becoming a series of rainbows and sparkles and, oddly, floating hourglasses for one particular mashup.</p><p>The next lull came in the form of a slower song, with the human vocals of a song called ‘Mirror’ over the top, telling a story. The crowd would cheer as the song ended with the instrumental of ‘Mirror’ with the Squid Sisters’ ‘Fresh Start’ being sung. Though the lights flashed and danced throughout both songs, on the screen behind the DJ booth played a simple clip of someone walking through a peaceful forest in a sort of first-person POV.</p><p>This Fresh Start / Mirror mashup seemed like it would be the end to her usual set, but when the song finished and began its ending, the lights faded down and Lily began to speak while the forest trek on screen continued. “Hi everyone. Doing well?” She greeted cheerfully.</p><p>The crowd whooped and cheered in response.</p><p>Neu Wave beamed. “So… here we go. Real talk. I said this was my last show for a while… I wanna explain why.” She took a deep breath. “I got a call the other day, folks. I still can’t believe this, but… I ended up speaking with Pearl and Marina from Off the Hook. We got any fans here tonight?!”</p><p>Another roar from the crowd. The DJ did her best to avoid looking directly at the two girls in the crowd. She knew they were there - this was part of the announcement deal. She moved to the keyboard and began to play a piano section based on the song that had just played</p><p>“Love it! So, y’know, we got to talking, mostly about that thing they’re doing very soon… y’know, the Final Fest?” Another cheer. “And… well, long story short…”</p><p>She took a deep breath, and seemed both very elated and nervous. “I am… <em>incredibly</em> excited to announce that DJ Neu Wave will be performing, <em>on-stage</em>, with <em>Off the Hook</em>, during Final Fest!”</p><p>The crowd almost literally erupted in cheers, applause and roars of approval. Neu Wave’s ‘persona’ broke at the overwhelming reception, and she blushed, looking away, clumsily finishing the piano section. “T-thank you! Let’s make this night one to remember!”</p><p>The screen behind her was finally fading to black, the break over. In the darkness, a voice from ‘Mirror’ spoke:</p>
<p></p><div class="line-block">
  <p>
    <em>"Sometimes, the inner voice is encouraging.</em><br/>
<em>Calling for you to run those final few yards.</em><br/>
<em>You’re nearly there. Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.</em><br/>
<em>It will all be okay in the end."</em>
  </p>
</div><p>Then, like the transition into ‘Mirror’, ‘Fresh Start’ began to play, as an instrumental. With the song it was paired to, it felt like a triumphant beginning to the second ‘half’ of her set.</p>
<hr/><p>The rest of that set was a blur of emotion and lights and energy to Lily. She felt more energetic after sharing the news and bounced and danced on stage with the crowd more than a few times.</p><p>The second half of her show also included more mashups with the songs of Inkopolis, many of course by Off the Hook and the Squid Sisters, almost in celebration of her impending collaboration. After ‘Fresh Start’ came a slew of mashups which lit up the club with different patterns and colours - the iconic ‘Calamari Inkantation’, both its versions, ‘Acid Hues’, ‘Ebb and Flow’, a combo mashup of ‘City of Color’ and ‘Ink Me Up’, a remix of ‘Color Pulse’, ‘Into The Light’, Chirpy Chips’ ‘Blitz It’…</p><p>The set fittingly culminated in a ‘Now or Never’ mashup which gradually layered on vocals from each version of the song - first Off the Hook, then the Squid Sisters, then Wet Floor, and finally the OGs, Squid Squad. By the time all the voices were singing together in the song, so was everyone in the club to Neu Wave’s encouragement. “<em>Shell</em> yeah! Lemme hear you! Send it home!”</p><p>As the timer on screen ticked down to the final downbeat, all the lights faded to white and Neu Wave threw her hands out to the crowd. “Thank you all once again! I’ve been DJ Neu Wave! See you at Final Fest!”</p><p>She waved to the crowd, smiling as the crowd cheered and whooped. She took a few seconds to just stop and take in the scene.</p><p>“T-thank you, everyone,” she quietly breathed.</p><p>Then, shaking her head to snap back to reality, she took a bow, disconnected her laptop from the stage booth, and left with it to exit into the staff area, the way she’d came.</p>
<hr/><p>Lily stepped out of the staff entrance of the Starfish Bar a few minutes later, carrying a cup of hot chocolate in her hand. As soon as the door shut behind her and the light from inside disappeared, she allowed the persona of ‘DJ Neu Wave’ to slip away from her, and her bright eyes and smile slipped away. She slumped down rather roughly on a milk crate next to the entrance, leaning her back into the wall</p><p>In an instant, she looked as if she was totally exhausted.</p><p>And she was.</p><p>Physically, the show had taken a lot out of her. But it had taken a lot of energy out of her emotionally and mentally too - not just the announcements, but just actively being around so many people, being the focus for so long.</p><p>This was her routine, though - every Friday night, she’d play her show, then after a bit of mingling with the staff or the crowd, she’d retreat to this backalley, away from everyone and just decompress for a while - and allow herself to fall to pieces, or excitedly celebrate on her own, or whatever the mood called for.</p><p>Today though, she’d really played her heart out. It was an important set for an important occasion. She simply drank her drink, staring at the bricks of the building across from her.</p><p><em>I hope I can top that show at Final Fest</em>, she thought to herself.</p><p>A few minutes of drinking and staring later, Off the Hook would catch Lily’s eye as they walked up from the street. They seemed in a good mood.</p><p>“Hey, Lil’.” Pearl nodded at her as the two approached her. “Great show tonight. I see you’ve gotten better at the MCing part after our chat the other month. Proud of ya.”</p><p>“That was an awesome set, Lily!” Marina smiled. “The crowd inside is really pumped to see you perform with us, too.”</p><p>“I’m glad.” Lily yawned, and gave a weak smile. “I feel like I gave it my best.”</p><p>“You look it. Y’alright?” Pearl raised an eyebrow at her.</p><p>“Yeah. Just. Exhausted.” Lily reached for a hot drink cup by her feet, and took a sip. “It’s part of the routine by now, y’know? I put a lot more of my energy into those shows, that by the end of it I just need… <em>some</em> time at the end to get a bit of energy back. I’m still introverted, and all that.”</p><p>Marina nodded. “You did well, Lily. Are you gonna be alright to get home?”</p><p>“Psh. Yeah, I’ll be fine.” The inkling smiled up at them again. “I gotta make a detour on the way, but I mean, it’s a nice night out. It’ll…” An unexpected yawn caught her by surprise. “…It’ll be nice just walking through the city.”</p><p>“Gotcha.” Pearl smiled. “Good night for it, innit?”</p><p>“Mmm. Feels like it.” Lily glanced up at the night sky. “Might help me clear my head.”</p><p>Pearl glanced toward the drowsy inkling on the milk crate. “Hey, you comin’ down for another jam session next week?”</p><p>“Hell yeah I am. This show ain’t putting itself together.”</p><p>“That’s what I like to hear.” Her smile grew into a smirk. “You look after yourself, okay?”</p><p>“Will do, Pearl. Thanks for checking up on me.” Lily smiled, and stood to give each of them a hug.</p><p>“Of course, Lily. That’s what friends do.” Marina also smiled. And she and Pearl started to move again, walking past Lily toward the street. “See you Monday arvo, alright?”</p><p>“Sounds good, Marina. Take care, girls.” Lily smiled, and shifted her posture, leaning back in a more relaxed fashion against the brick wall of the club, feeling more rejuvenated after the time in the cool air.</p><p>“Oh, and don’t forget!” called Marina’s voice, the girls having paused about 20 meters away. “We’re announcing it on the news tomorrow!”</p><p>“Got it!” Lily smiled and looked toward it, saluting them with the cup in her hand.</p><p>She took a few more minutes to summon the rest of the night’s energy, sipping her hot drink. Then, getting up, she walked the two steps toward the staff entrance and opened the door.</p><p>Time to get her gear. She knew that her keyboard and other portable gear she’d brought to the show would have been minded by the staff, but she did have to pack it all back into her backpack. She had to move on.</p><p>After all, she needed to pay a visit.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Apologies for the relatively short chapter today. This was originally developed as a smaller part of the /next/ chapter, the main scene of which ending up eclipsing this one. I expanded on this and split the chapter into this and the next, to give this more room to breathe.</p><p>The upshot of this, though, is the next chapter is actually 95% complete, and I'll release that next week!</p><p>I wrote a bit about the process that went into making my writing process smoother, and the steps I took to get there since I started writing Begin Again: <a href="https://talk.neurario.com/t/making-my-writing-setup-my-own/18">Upgrading my writing setup</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Last Night A DJ...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Lily visits a friend, and they shoot the breeze. Talks soon turn to business, however.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The air had grown colder by the time Lily had made her way to her next stop.</p><p>Leaping through the grate into the floating platform of Tentakeel Hideout, above the Octo Canyon, the inkling was carrying the backpack in which she held the old human laptop she played her mashups from. Also inside were her treasured Dualies set, a half-empty drink bottle, an iPhone 8 Plus, and the radio which connected her with the rest of the New Squidbeak Splatoon.</p><p>Lily took a moment to take in the change of environment. In an instant, the city environs had fallen away, the closed, sometimes claustrophobic spaces of the city falling away to open air. Though the Octarians formally owned this space, the area was empty, and felt devoid of people. For a moment she took comfort in the moments of solitary.</p><p>There was only a single light source here in the space, illuminating a small cabin, one that had been established at least a year ago - seemingly recent, but before her time. The only other lights belonged to the city, past the massive rocks a few kilometers away that marked the edge of the Octo Canyon, and the stars in the sky, which glimmered in the sky, even as they became less visible past the glow of Inkopolis City.</p><p>This place in particular, Tentakeel Hideout… This was the current base of operations for the New Squidbeak Splatoon.</p><p>Though nobody besides Lily had been around here for months.</p><p>She walked over to the Cuttlefish Cabin, and dropped the bag on the cabin bench, then sat down herself. There were a few moments of silence where she collected herself, letting the cool breeze wash over her, clearing her head. Without looking, she yawned, “Hello, Octavio.”</p><p>“Nearly forgot about me tonight, didn’t you?” replied a male, gurgly voice a few meters to her left.</p><p>“Nope. Not at all.” She didn’t look up to see him, but he knew he was there. “I’m just… <em>so</em> drained right now.”</p><p>“Oh? The show didn’t go well?”</p><p>“Heh… Quite the opposite, actually.” Lily smiled, and closed her eyes for a few moments, letting them rest. “I spent so much emotional energy tonight… It was just… so, so perfect for what it was. Tavi, they’re gonna let me play on the Splatfest stage in a few weeks. I finally got to tell the world today.”</p><p>“Well deserved, my dear human.” Octavio’s voice was calm, relaxed. “Any moments in particular standing out to you?”</p><p>“Uh… a few. It’s all a bit of a blur at the moment.” She finally glanced up at him, and lifted herself from the bench toward his resting place. “But I think the whole club shouting the lyrics to ‘Now or Never’ is gonna be stuck in my brain for a while. Just… Just awesome.”</p><p>“Heh. C’mere.” Octavio gestured her toward him, and the inkling walked right up to his snowglobe. The two shared a ‘fistbump’ through the glass. “I think you’d do well in the underground, Lily.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Lily shot a look at him. “From what I remember you telling me of your people, they seem quite kind.”</p><p>Octavio nodded. “And loyal. The only issue with getting you there at the moment is the whole network of cities and towns and such… that’d be all unpowered.”</p><p>“Why’s that? What’s Octopia run on?”</p><p>“Usually?” Octavio thought for a moment. “A few of your Zapfishes, to be honest. We wouldn’t have any. Before you ask,” he started, raising an eyebrow at her, “we <em>have</em> tried alternate energy sources. We’re not deep enough underground to have access to geothermal energy, and while our nation has <em>some</em> access to coal and other resources, if I recall from our past experiments in the last hundred years the power plants we installed to process it polluted a few of our caves with horrible air.”</p><p>Lily nodded. “Ours is about the same story, except a few countries stuck with it, mine included. So, Zapfishes… from the surface I assume?”</p><p>“We have no choice.” Octavio waved the same tentacle at her. “You know as well as I do, it’s clean, renewable energy.”</p><p>“I get it. Though Inkopolis needs that energy too. Have you considered solar energy?”</p><p>“…Lily, that’s the sun.”</p><p>“Yes, and?”</p><p>“…We are <em>underground</em>?”</p><p>“Tavi, where are we?” Lily gestured around at the Octo Canyon around them.</p><p>“Don’t you dare tell me we still own this canyon!” The DJ snapped, jabbing a tentacle toward the Cuttlefish Cabin. “What’s that cabin over there then?!”</p><p>“You misunderstand me. A flat panel with a bunch of photoelectric sensors that takes in sunlight and generates a little electricity. I’m no scientist, but - developed enough, a few panels like that on someone’s house can produce enough power for them to live on. Look at all the unused space here.” She gestured around at the walls of the canyon, off in the distance. “I bet you could power the entire underground with a large-scale solar farm just on the walls here.”</p><p>“That’s if it’s developed to your standard, human.” Octavio rolled his eyes. “I see a flaw, however. During the night, or in bad weather here on the surface, how do you expect us to have power?!”</p><p>“Octavio…” Lily was confused and concerned. “<em>Surely</em> you guys have developed batteries.”</p><p>“<em>Of course</em> we have batteries!” Octavio barked. “Those tiny little things can’t hold an entire network’s power system!”</p><p>“Come on, man! Take <em>that</em> technology and scale it up! Just build something to store the energy when it’s not being used! Surely you can make ‘that but bigger’!”</p><p>The two stared at each other for a moment, both slightly irritated, Lily beginning to feel frustrated with him. <em>Fuckin’ Octavio, I know you’re smarter than that,</em> she thought.</p><p>“…Hm.” DJ Octavio eyed her carefully, the tinges of a frown behind his tentacle moustache. “I suppose I may have misunderstood. Then what do you propose we do for power while we built your… ‘solar network’?”</p><p>“…I don’t know,” Lily acquiesced, sighing and looking away as she softly spoke. “It was just a thought I had had.”</p><p>“I understand. I’m sorry, Lily.” Octavio sighed, and a tentacle rubbed the glass between them. “I don’t wish to be upset with you. Much as it’s strange to admit, you’re the closest thing I’ve had to a friend this past year.”</p><p>“Aww, that warms my heart, Tavi.” Lily smiled and blushed slightly at the compliment. “Is this another attempt to get me to let you out?”</p><p>“No! Not at all!” the octopus grumbled. “…Well, not this time.”</p><p>Lily snorted. “Well I’m very flattered.”</p><p>“Really, though… You kept coming back. You… actually <em>talked</em> to me, rather than just writing me off. Your inkling friends did just that. Much as I hate being stuck in here, I appreciate you coming back every week.”</p><p>“W-wow, uh… thank you, Octavio.” Lily let a slight blush of sky blue form on her cheeks.</p><p>There was a slight pause. Then Octavio decided to try his luck once more, a smirk forming. “You’re about the only inkling I’d consider mating, too,” he teased with a huge grin.</p><p>“Pff, you know I have a partner, right?” Lily grinned, trying to play it off, but her blush intensified.</p><p>“I’m tellin’ ya. Once you try these tentacles, there’s no going back, baby.”</p><p>“Oh I-I’m sure.” Lily’s cheeks were deeply flushed now. “I’m well aware of what those tentacles are good for. I-I don’t think I’m into getting intimate out here though, s-so uh, no thanks…”</p><p>“What kind of man do you take me for?” Octavio asked, still smirking. “I’d take you to my royal bedchambers, of <em>course</em>. Only the best for my mate.”</p><p>“Tavi, you <em>must</em> have a lover back home.” Lily began to pace aimlessly around his snowglobe, embarassed and nervous.</p><p>“None. Never. I don’t need one, remember? Besides, I’m royalty. Nobody could stop me from taking after you.~” To accentuate his point he began wiggling his eyebrows at her.</p><p>“O-oh my…” Lily turned away, trying to calm her thoughts. She was somewhat ashamed to feel just how much his words were exciting her - at least, the part of her that she more or less never acted on. Octavio had noticed that the inkling’s left hand had drifted near her crotch, very briefly, and grinned to himself.</p><p>She glanced back at him, a light smirk on her face. “Just know, I’m not gonna make it easy on you to win me over, Tavi.”</p><p>“Woe to me,” Octavio said simply, smirking back. “One day I’ll have you, Lily. I owe it to us to, dear.”</p><p>“H-heh… well, one day, Octavio.” Lily raised an eyebrow. “Hopefully if tensions ease between our people… Even then, I have a girlfriend already, so~…”</p><p>“Pfeh. And what will you do without me in the meantime?” he asked, letting his smirk fade.</p><p>“W-well I don’t know but right now I… I wanna just… be here, with you, for a bit.” A slight pause. Lily’s voice had become quieter. “No horniness, no bullshit, just…I just want to enjoy the night.” She turned back toward him and knelt down onto the ground staring up into the night sky, partially through the octopus’s snowglobe.</p><p>“…At least one of us can,” Octavio snarked. He paused to think for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, dear human. Let’s chill.” For his part, he lowered himself down against the glass behind him, letting his tentacles relax as he adjusted himself to gaze upward. Where he noticed his appendages blocking the inkling’s view, he adjusted them slightly, curling them inward.</p><p>Lily laid herself down, barely beneath the snowglobe, resting her hands beneath her head, relaxing her breathing. “Thanks…”</p><p>“You’re quite welcome,” came Octavio’s gently spoken reply.</p><p>Lily and Octavio sat in silence as they stared up into the stars.</p><p>A few minutes passed. In the moment, the only sounds they heard were of the ocean far from them, their own breathing (her soft, light breaths and Tavi’s deep, lightly-labored ones), and the breeze whistling through the trees and the floating platform.</p><p>“You must get tired of this view,” Lily said quietly, watching the stars flicker above them.</p><p>“A bit,” the octopus admitted. “There are worse sights I could be stuck with, though…”</p><p>“Mm…”</p><p>The inkling gradually forced her thoughts away from the lewd activities Octavio’s comments led her to think on, and shifted to more calming things. How relaxing this moment was to her. How comforting Tavi always seemed…</p><p>She felt comfortable, felt calmer. She stood up briefly, stretching her legs.</p><p>As she did so, Octavio began to speak softly to her. “Lily. If I may ask… This has been troubling me for a while. Your agent friends seem to have forgotten I’m here. <em>I</em> think I’ve learned my lesson. Do <em>you</em> think I’ve learned my lesson?”</p><p>“I… forget what you were even in there for, to be completely honest.” Lily turned her head to look at him as she lifted and flexed her knees. “And it’s been about a year now, right?”</p><p>“Something like that.” Octavio met her gaze. “Hey, speaking of. It’s been a year since you became part of our world, right? Happy anniversary.”</p><p>“Thanks, Tavi.” Lily smiled warmly at him. “Y’know, it’s so nice that even you are celebrating me.” She turned away again. “Yeah, I’d say you should be released by now. Y’know, assuming you’re gonna be good and not do… whatever it was that got you locked up in here again.”</p><p>“Heh. I sincerely appreciate your words, Lily. I’m more than ready to be released.”</p><p>“I’m sure, just… I don’t know how to do that. I guess the first step is, uh… I should probably let the NSS know that we–”</p><p>The brushing of something along her shoulder cut her off.</p><p>It was scarred, warm, fleshy, as the appendage slid along her right to her left shoulder, pulling Lily in towards the owner’s body.</p><p>Finding herself face-to-face with the King.</p><p>Lily froze, falling silent as she realised just how <em>big</em> he was up close, as DJ Octavio’s tentacles embraced her to him. A spicy scent filled her nostrils as she was held.</p><p>Something felt wrong. Even thought she had just said he should be freed… This put her at unease.</p><p>“Sshhhh…” One of his eight tentacles stroked over her head, leaning her gently into his. “Don’t worry about them.”</p><p>“H-how… did you free yourself?” Lily’s breath was shallow, her movements careful. Her cheeks began to flush again. She caught a glimpse at his snowglobe - the glass dome had been easily lifted and pushed aside.</p><p>
  <em>To be able to do that so swiftly…</em>
</p><p>“My dear, I’ve been able to escape for <em>months</em>.” Tavi lied through his smirk, caressing her softly. “I only never left because doing so would mean not seeing you again.”</p><p>“Tavi, I love you but I doubt that that’s–”</p><p>“You <em>love</em> me? Did I hear that correctly~?” His smirk widened and his tentacles held her tighter.</p><p>Lily’s blush deepened. She hadn’t meant to phrase it <em>quite</em> like that… <em>Maybe more of a friend with benefits?</em> She didn’t feel like she could quite correct herself in this situation though. “U-uhm… I uh…”</p><p>“Well, consider me flattered, my dear.” Octavio’s tentacles brushed over her body once more, then loosened. “Come live with me, Lily. Share my bedchambers at the Palais Takowasa and put some of that human knowledge to use with us. And between you and me…” He leaned toward her ear. “…we have a <em>lot</em> of unfulfilled promises to work out~”</p><p>Lily’s cheeks burned, once again remembering all the flirting… After a moment, she pushed at him and extricated herself from his grasp. It <em>sounded</em> fun, and she wanted to see life in Octopia, but she’d established herself in Inkopolis, and she already <em>had</em> a partner, after all… “O-Octavio… I’m honored, I truly am, but I… I can’t. I’ve got too much going for me in Inkopolis to just… drop everything.” She dropped her head and sighed. “I would love to visit Octopia one day, I truly, truly would. And well, if things change there’s no reason that that couldn’t happen in the future… But right now… I’m… sorry, Octavio.” She came back to him and gently hugged him.</p><p>“Ah…” DJ Octavio let out a deep sigh as she hugged him. He <em>had</em> expected her to back out, from all the talks that they had had - she seemed like the sort of person to back out, to need to be pushed into making a leap like that. With an odd little twirl of a tentacle, he nodded. “I cannot say I’m not disappointed… But I understand.”</p><p>It hurt Lily to hurt him like this. But it just didn’t feel right to just leave everything behind. She started to back away toward the grate. “L-look. I’d better get out of here… I won’t say a word. You do what you need to. I’ll just uh… ‘discover you missing’ sometime tomorrow or something. O-okay?”</p><p>As she turned to face the grate, she saw the face of someone else straightening up from behind the Squid Sisters’ couch, by the lone tree in the Hideout, and walk around to block her path to the grate with their Octo Shot pointed at her. Revealing herself at Octavio’s visual signal.</p><p>An Octoling. Lily frowned. <em>Why was she here?</em> She <em>swore</em> she remembered her from somewhere…</p><p>“I’m sorry, Lily,” Octavio said softly behind her. “It isn’t quite going to work out that way.”</p><p>The sound of more rustling and footsteps behind her made her turn around again, and three other Octolings stepped out from various hiding spots. Lily quickly found herself surrounded by the Octo Shot user, a Roller, a Blaster and a Charger, as well as Octavio himself. “T-Tavi…?”</p><p>“Lily…” The great octopus sighed. “Please understand. Your friends won’t just simply let me go. I’d already spent two more years in that damned prison before I was freed. I’ve just <em>spent</em> a third year. Do you really not think that the moment they find out I’ve returned home, they won’t come after me <em>again</em>?”</p><p>“T-then I won’t say anything. I promise. Please–”</p><p>“I’m sorry.” Octavio’s tentacle extended toward her. “I can’t chance that. I’ll have to ask you to come with us.”</p><p>Lily stared at him, and fear started to settle in. She slowly turned to get a look at the other Octolings that kept her pinned in, frantically, silently trying to come up with an idea.</p><p>
  <em>Are… they’re… they’re about to take me away, aren’t they?</em>
</p><p>She finally turned back toward Octavio, and as he saw the look in her eyes he began to frown. “Lily, please don’t do what I think you’re about to do…”</p><p>Lily shook her head, only having come up with one idea. “I’m sorry, DJ. I won’t go.”</p><p>Then she quickly turned squid, her form rushing to the ground.</p><p>Above her, startled by the sudden movement, the Octo Shot and Charger loosed ink in her direction.</p><p>And as the Octarian ink started to fall, Lily rushed back upward - becoming an inkling again as she shoulder-bashed into the Blaster, knocking her away and getting out of the path of the Roller’s ink as it flung itself in her direction.</p><p>Lily sprinted for the Cuttlefish Cabin bench, where she’d set her backpack down earlier. If she could just get it open, her Dualies were in there. She yanked the bag from its seat and pulled it along with her as she sprinted down through the archway toward the kettles, the Octarians beginning their pursuit, firing and moving quickly.</p><p>Octavio bellowed something in Octarian to his troops. Hearing the tinge of anger in his voice shook Lily - it was something she had not heard in him before. It really solidified in her the reality of what was happening.</p><p>She <em>needed</em> those dualies.</p><p><em>First order of business</em>, Lily thought to herself as she ran. <em>I have to let the girls know he’s free.</em> Her head whipped around constantly as she looked for a spot where she could take a few seconds to get a message out, knowing the Octolings were hot on her tail.</p><p>Thinking about it, running from four Octolings felt familiar to her for some reason…</p><p>She leapt down from a ledge down onto the grassy area of the Hideout and ducked behind it, slamming her bag down and yanking the zipper open. She quickly pulled out her Dualies, and the radio she had been provided long ago by Marie. She swung the bag onto her back and began to transmit a few beeps first before coming on. “Crai–”</p><p>She was knocked sideways as an Octoling boot connected with her head, and the radio was knocked out of her hand. She rolled on the ground and got up quickly, holding tight onto the single Dualie she had held onto as her Blaster assailant said something in Octarian. Lily backed away, jamming her finger on the Dualie trigger–</p><p>And noticed the Charger beam pointed at her from above–</p><p>Lily dove to the side as a loud ‘crack!’ sounded from the Octo Charger and a blast of pressurised ink shot in her direction. A brief glance told her she’d at least hit the Blaster octoling, but not enough to dispatch her. She knew she was outmatched.</p><p>She had to escape back to Inkopolis, <em>somehow</em>.</p><p>The Blaster drew her attention for another brief moment as she was fired upon again. Firing a few more shots toward her, Lily noticed the empty space to the left of the Charger above, a place where she could perhaps get an edge on these attackers.</p><p>The inkling charged <em>toward</em> the Blaster, making her pause for just a moment in confusion. Lily then turned squid as another Charger blast covered the ground behind her, and swam between the octoling’s legs - popping up immediately after and swinging an elbow at her head, then firing her Dualie point blank into her.</p><p>The subsequent burst of her opponent gave her some ease. <em>Okay, this is doable. I just have to fight my way back.</em> She used the jet on the grip of her singular Dualie to awkwardly dash up against the wall, above which the Charger was perched. She could already hear the other three communicating between each other, quickly, angrily.</p><p>Grabbing the other Dualie from the backpack that was still discarded by the wall, she fired upon the wall itself, creating a path upwards for her. She glanced behind her at the sound of a Roller behind her, having seemed to have come down the ramp to flank her.</p><p>With a cheeky salute, Lily flung herself into the ink as she heard the Roller call out, swimming upward toward the ledge.</p><p>
  <em>This is my chance.</em>
</p><p>But as she leapt up into the air, above the Charger, she heard a male grunt and her eyes flicked up to see saw DJ Octavio ten, perhaps fifteen meters away from them.</p><p>DJ Octavio, who had flung something large and transparent in her direction.</p><p>Time seemed to slow down for a second as she tried to parse what she was seeing.</p><p>Then the heavy glass dome from the snowglobe slammed into her in mid-air, knocking the breath out of her. Momentum carried the dome along and she was hurled backwards with it and suddenly the Charger, Octavio, and the archway leading back to Inkopolis was shrinking–</p><p>And as she and the snowglobe smashed into a wall behind her - the glass shattering into and around her - her body burst, and her vision blurred. She felt light, floating, and quite shocked.</p><p>She had been splatted and had become a spirit, seeking a respawn point.</p><p>Leaving a sky blue ink stain behind.</p><p>Something inside her seemed to sense that respawn point, and she felt drawn toward the grate, as shouts in Octarian erupted somewhere around her.</p><p>As she started to float in that direction though, something rushed up toward her blurry vision and a glass wall seemed to rush up in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere. She bounced harmlessly off of it, and tried to find a way around.</p><p>But she was completely surrounded.</p><p>She heard a yell of joy from one of the Octolings.</p><p>For the wall on which she had run into curved around her such that it enclosed the sides and bottom, and a cap of some kind blocked the top. The whole contraption was barely bigger than her. And what looked like a giant hand was holding tightly onto it.</p><p>If Lily’s heart could sink at this moment, it would.</p><p>As she realised she had been caught. Held in a jar.</p><p>The Octarians had caught her.</p><p><em>I have to get free</em>, she thought as she floated in the tight space. <em>Or my friends might never see me again.</em></p><p>Lily flung herself against the lid, trying to knock it off, trying desperately to break out and escape - but it just wouldn’t budge, even when she tried to run herself counterclockwise against the lid edges.</p><p>It had been fastened tightly, and it seemed to her that she would not be able to escape while she was trapped in here.</p><p>
  <em>Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck–</em>
</p><p>The massive face of DJ Octavio loomed into view from the deep blur somewhere past the walls of her prison as whoever was carrying her brought her to him. She tensed as his tentacle latched onto the jar, and the hand that had held it relinquished its grasp. His piercing unusual eyes watched her, and as she continued to panic and try to somehow push through the glass, he seemed to be feeling a mixture of relief and sadness.</p><p>“I deeply apologise for the heavy-handedness, Lily,” he said softly to the spirit in the jar. “I will explain further in due time, I promise. Your co-operation is for the betterment of both of us.”</p><p>He then said something in Octarian to one of his octolings as the remaining team members gathered around her, and Lily heard a few small beeps, a code transmitted from a radio like she had done before. As the group began to chat, Lily couldn’t make out anything of what they were saying now. She wondered if it was to do with her, or of something else - the way they seemed so casual now that they had defeated her.</p><p>Octavio handed back her jar to one of the Octolings - the leader, she thought, judging by the seaweed she’d seen attached to her glasses like an ornament - and the squad started to move around her as the leader slid her jar into place in their belt. She was held against the side of the octoling’s hips as they all moved.</p><p>She started to struggle again to push the lid out of the way in a last-ditch effort to escape, hoping that they weren’t paying as much attention anymore, but before long she felt Octavio’s eyes upon her again.</p><p>“I highly recommend against doing that.” He laid a tentacle tip on the lid as the spirit turned to face him again. “Much as I want to show you that things will be better with us… If you do somehow manage to escape, you've got no anchor. Spend too long in the air and you <em>will</em> expire. And I really <em>wouldn’t</em> want to see that happen to you, Lily.”</p><p>Lily’s spirit paused, staring out at him. <em>Was that true? …Do I really want to find out?</em></p><p>
  <em>…No, I don’t…</em>
</p><p>The spirit floated down in defeat, and slumped at the bottom of her jar.</p><p>“Good girl. Let’s go.”</p><p>Then they all seemed to shift forms, and the black shorts Lily’s jar was brushing against became a mass of red ink and flesh, her carrier becoming an octopus, and the light around her seemed to vanish, rushing upwards out of sight.</p><p>The Octolings were dropping into one of the kettles leading away from the Canyon.</p><p>And Lily watched through the wall of the jar as the night sky shrank away above her, as her captors fell through the pitch-black tunnels, and she got the sinking feeling she would not see the surface for a long, long time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Sound of the Underground</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>DJ Octavio comes home, with his team and his captive in tow.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm sorry to announce that this is the last chapter I will be publishing on AO3, due to disagreements I have with some site policies.</p><p>I do want to take the time though to acknowledge the many, many people who have read through these fics of mine, left comments, kudos, bookmarked it. As someone who <em>barely</em> wrote <em>anything</em> before starting on this series, it means a lot to me that these fics have meant something to you. Thank you so much, and I hope you'll continue reading at these new sites.</p><p>The chapter in its entirety will be available here today. I've been <a href="https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13397436/31/Begin-Again-Chronicles-of-an-Ex-Human-In-Inkopolis">posting chapters simultaneously to Fanfiction.net</a> for a while, and you can continue to find and read the fic there. It can now also be found in two other places: <a href="https://fanfiction.online/story/430427/31">Fanfiction Online</a>, and <a href="http://neurario.com/writing/begin-again/part-3/04-sound-of-the-underground">on my own website</a> for archival purposes.</p><p>Comments/reviews, if not supported by the reading outlet (so, my website) can be directed to <a href="https://twitter.com/Splatsune">Twitter</a>.</p><p>Thank you so much. ❤</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Respawn.</p><p>Just over a hundred years ago, it was the culmination of studies into Inkling and Octoling death, and the little flying squid (or octopus) that always emerged from the body after being killed, floating seemingly randomly, before disappearing into thin air, never to be seen again.</p><p>The studies had shown that these spirits were formed from a pouch of ink once thought to be part of the creatures’ main supply. Nerves and neurons would pressurise and burst this special ink sac as their bodies took too much damage and gave in, bursting the body and preserving the mind in a small, near-ethereal squid/octopus form, so light as to be capable of flight.</p><p>These spirits were so light, in fact, that living for too long seemed to cause their end as the particles in the moving air would tear them apart, the spirit dissipating into nothingness. Later experiments, after the war, would confirm that places where the air did not move - like octo-made contraptions like the Preservation Jar, which was… a jar - would keep the spirit safe, but this was considered unethical until the Respawn technology was fully discovered.</p><p>They seemed to be drawn toward large, deep bodies of ink. If they reached these pools and submerged in the ink, they were able to return to life - given a few hours or even days to reform, depending on the extent of their wounds. The spirit would often be disoriented from the experience, and even after this their survival was not guaranteed.</p><p>Advancements in improving the speed and success rate of the Respawn process led to specialised ‘high-pressure’ ink pools and respawn points. These pools kept the supplied ink warm so that it flowed easier, which, combined with the pressurization, allowed an instant respawn with a virtually perfect success rate.</p><p>This technology completely changed the life of inklings and octolings, allowing them to live a full life - only passing on to the next when their elderly bodies had degraded, and their respawn sac was no longer functioning.</p><p>It was through the Octarians’ ingenuity and technological aptitude, and the Inklings’ stubbornness and curiosity, that both species reaped the benefits of a guaranteed long life.</p><p>And it was the Octarians’ new understanding of death that made them a terrible foe in battle.</p><p>Negotiations over the slowly shrinking land mass that the Octarians and the Inklings lived on, between the Great General Octavio, of the Takowasa Clan, and representatives of the Inkling Coalition - including the Lord Jelly, Jelensi, and Captain Craig Cuttlefish of the soon-to-be legendary Squidbeak Splatoon - collapsed into all-out war, taking place over several awful years.</p><p>With the invention of the Respawn, and both sides of the fight making full use of it, it should have been a bloodless battle over territory.</p><p>Octarian creations - hybrids of tentacles and machines, called Great Octoweapons - descended upon Inkling bases and outposts. The mornings for inkling-kind brought despair as they often woke to find their bases overrun.</p><p>Each day brought new terrors on either side of the divide.</p><p>But during the war the Octarians, with General Octavio at the head, also used their new knowledge of respawning to fight an underhanded battle, throwing a wrench into the Inkling forces’ plans. Developing devices to contaminate the ink in inkling respawn pools, replacing it with their own - or to disrupt the shifting of the enemy’s form, and in doing so prevent the spirit from forming at the point of death.</p><p>Ensuring their target <em>stayed</em> dead.</p><p>They should have handily won ownership over the land.</p><p>And yet, the Octarians <em>lost</em> the war.</p><p>Their failure to secure the surface came down to several factors, historians agreed.</p><p>One: the non-octoling Octarians never evolved or grew a respawning sac, and so once they died, they were gone. And there were far more of those tentacled soldiers than humanoid fighters. And so, for each small victory the Inklings won over the Octarians, the size of the General’s forces shrank more and more.</p><p>Two: The infamous onslaught on the Inklings’ central military stronghold. Connecting the Great Octoweapon to a central power socket and allowing the machine to run rampant as the Octarians stormed the fortress should have made capturing it a piece of cake. But, due to a clueless inkling not paying attention to where he was running, the Octoweapon was disconnected from its power and, drained from the long march to the stronghold, shut down almost immediately, leaving the Octarians to bear the full brunt of the defenders.</p><p>Three: Inklings just… had more limbs.</p><p>And four: The Squidbeak Splatoon.</p><p>Captain Craig Cuttlefish (or Cap’n, his preference), Ammoses Shellendorf, and two handpicked inklings - and the splatoon’s mascot, Judd the cat - quickly gained a reputation among the Octarians for sneaking through their defenses, or breaking their way in with weapons they had not seen before. They would compromise installations, and clear a path for other forces to take territory, and assassinate key figures in the Octarian military.</p><p>They were punishing in a way most inklings weren’t.</p><p>And when the Octarians had been pushed back as far as they could, and were pinned between the inklings and the ocean…</p><p>…Then, and <em>only</em> then, did General Octavio Takowasa admit defeat, through gritted teeth.</p><p>Due to the bloodshed committed by his people, they were allotted a few square miles on the coast for which the Octarians could decide what to do. Obviously they couldn’t swim, and they couldn’t fly… but with their machines, they could dig.</p><p>So dig they did.</p><p>Under the watchful eyes of inkling and jellyfish guards, the Octarians shamefully filtered underground.</p><p>Until the Octarians were gone from the surface entirely.</p><p>General Octavio and his two Clan Elders, greatly intelligent octopi that had symbolically forgone the ‘octoling’ evolution, had decided on a plan early on: dig <em>deep</em>, to dig <em>large</em>.</p><p>Living deep underground, deeper than perhaps the inklings expected, afforded them the space to grow again as a species. To build the communities, towns and cities that they needed to thrive. They could expand as much as their civilization needed, and the surface dwellers would be none the wiser.</p><p>In later years, as their technology advanced, they would (accidentally) come across two great artificial structures in the ocean, somewhere outside of what was rapidly becoming Inkopolis City on the surface. Satisfied that this <em>technically</em> wasn’t owned land on the surface that the Inklings would cry foul about, Octarians set about colonizing these areas too - using them as gateways, miniature hubs for their new transport system, as well as just a mesmerizing destination to visit.</p><p>The years went by and the new land (underland) of Octopia grew and reestablished itself, but it was said that General Octavio became more unhinged, often thinking about the surface that should have rightfully been his, and fantasising about a war that the Octarians would win.</p><hr/><p>Five octopi leapt from the open kettle at the other end of their transit from the Octo Canyon’s surface.</p><p>Four pairs of Octoling boots thumped on the ground by the defeated Octo Oven’s platform as they shifted back to an evolved form.</p><p>And a large fleshy ‘whump’ reverberated throughout the arena as DJ Octavio landed behind them.</p><p>The Great Octoweapon’s arena was empty. As it had been for a year.</p><p>It floated above Tentakeel, a quiet Octarian town in the cave it was situated in which was connected to the surface. Below, buildings carved of clay and rock rose up into the air, small but two, sometimes three stories tall.</p><p>But the soldiers weren’t here to socialize with a machine.</p><p>“Right, so, your plan was…?” The DJ asked the squad’s leader in Octarian, with a raised eyebrow. “We’re trying to get <em>home</em>?”</p><p>“Don’t mind my saying so, boss,” Lux, the leader of Forward Squad Ceph, replied. “But without your flying transport, Mori’s figured this out as the fastest, safest route back home.”</p><p>“That’s right,” Mori chipped in, carrying her Charger in one hand as she inspected the town below. “We descend from the platform into Tentakeel and head north to their kettle. We take it to North Station, from there hop to Central and from there you should know the way to the HQ. Easy.”</p><p>“That’s rather pedestrian, isn’t it?” Octavio grumbled. “Isn’t there a faster way?”</p><p>“If you could Super Jump, boss, we could have just gone straight to Cephalon HQ…” Mori shook her head. “In the meantime, as Lux said, this is the fastest way.”</p><p>“I don’t like your tone, Mori.” Regardless, the king followed as the octoling squad proceeded onto the platform and walked across to an edge, where Lux pressed on a hidden button in the concrete with her boot.</p><p>Two metal rails hydraulically lifted away from the side of the wall pivoting on an axis as it lifted above the lip of the platform. From the ends hung metal ropes on pulleys, trembling as the service elevator it was connected to unlatched from beneath the arena and rose to meet them.</p><p>Kae strode over to the gate of the elevator platform and held it open with her offhand, a huge smirk on her face. “For you, king.”</p><p>“And what about you lot?” Octavio grumbled, looking over the four octolings. “There’s not room for all of us on this thing.”</p><p>In response, Lux and Mori grinned and changed forms, Super Jumping as octopi off the edge of the platform into the city below. The Roller girl gave the king a brief glance, then followed after her leader.</p><p>“Oh that’s real nice,” Octavio grumbled again, rolling his eyes as he resigned himself to slither onto the elevator. “Leaving your leader to ride on this old thing.”</p><p>“Sorry, DJ. Them’s the breaks.” Mori grinned. “You want me to ride down with you?”</p><p>“I’ll meet you down at the bottom,” the octopus sighed, and jabbed a tentacle at one of two buttons on the panel that started lowering the elevator. “Since when did you lot become so mean?”</p><p>“We’ve <em>always</em> been the way we are, you know that.” Mori watched him from the lip of the platform. “We must be doing something right, you still love us.”</p><p>Then she too, shifted forms and launched downward into the buildings below, leaving the octopus to ride alone for several minutes.</p><p><em>Damn brats</em>, he thought.</p><p>
  <em>If only they weren’t so good.</em>
</p><hr/><p>In the late evening at the dimly-lit Cephalon Central Transport Hub, two Octarian guards that watched over a locked door were barely able to keep their eyes open, or the spears held in their singular tentacles upright.</p><p>Every day, they watched the citizens of Octopia enter and exit this large circular building from the kettles lined around the walls, or through the large doorway leading out into Cephalon City itself, the capital of Octopia.</p><p>The nights, however, were much quieter. Occasionally an Octarian would walk by and say hello on their way to their destination, but a lot of the night shift was silence. Occasionally the travellers would stop and ask, “what’s behind the door?” or make some sort of smalltalk.</p><p>The door the two guards looked after led to kettles leading to military-restricted areas. For example, with the right access one could access the central military command centre Cephalon HQ, or the munitions depot of Weaponsmaster Beaker, or several defensive and offensive outposts dotted throughout the underground network.</p><p>Under additional security measures, one could also access Palais Takowasa directly. Specifically, areas restricted to only the King himself, and his retinue.</p><p>Ergo, only DJ Octavio, the Octobot King, could access this particular kettle.</p><p>But why would he?</p><p>Yes, his Octobot Mk II airborne DJ booth-turned-missile craft had been badly damaged in an assault by the New Squidbeak Splatoon a year ago, and the King himself captured - but there were easier ways for him to access his home than–</p><p>“Excuse me, we need to access the palace.”</p><p>The Octarian soldier snapped out of his deep daydreaming state, and his tentacle lifted the helmet on its head to better see who had arrived.</p><p>It was Lux - the leader of Forward Squad Ceph - leaning over the creature. She led a team well-reknowned for its prowess in battle. Octavio’s chosen few - acknowledged as the ‘best of the best’.</p><p>Behind her were the rest of FSC, waiting patiently.</p><p>“Ahem!” The soldier made a loud noise, startling their partner into waking up, and both knocked the butts of their spears on the ground. “Sorry, ladies. You know the backrooms of the palace are accessible to the king only. You’re free to access the barracks–”</p><p>“Just let us in, bozo,” said a deeper male voice behind them.</p><p>The soldier’s brow creased and he tried to look around the girls at who had replied to him - only to squeak and shrink back as the unmistakeable head of Octavio Takowasa raised up from behind Ceph Squad to peer down at him.</p><p>“Eek! I-I’m sorry, my liege!” The soldier shivered in fear, as did his friend. “I-I’ll get that for you right away!”</p><p>The spears clattered to the ground as the soldier’s tentacles grasped the rungs on the large door, pulling it open. As soon as it was, they, and the group of Ceph Squad and Octavio, strode in to the restricted room.</p><p>The gold-plated kettle caught everyone’s eye immediately, sitting in the center of the array of destinations before them. Its lid was still on - affixed to a hinge controlled by some authentication mechanism to the side of the kettle.</p><p>The second soldier ran up to the machine, turning to face the group. “N-now, my king, if you would just present your tenta–”</p><p>“I know how this works,” Octavio said dismissively, slithering forward and sliding his tentacle into the cylindrical hole in the machine. Inside, a series of lasers and cameras began to measure and compare the presented appendage to its records.</p><p>“Y-yes, sorry sir.” With a short bow, both soldiers scurried away, out of the room.</p><p>“Wow, you’re short tonight,” Lux noted once the soldiers were gone. “Is it cause we fired on your <em>girlfriend</em>?”</p><p>“Lux, I will crush you.” Octavio removed his tentacle from the machine as the lid began to open for them. “I’m mostly short with you lot. That exchange didn’t have to go the way it did.”</p><p>“Blame the inkling, sire.” Lux tapped at the jar tucked into her belt with a clawed finger, spooking the little blue spirit inside, and with her other hand gestured for her team to proceed. “She could have come quietly, but she chose to fight. If I remember right, <em>you</em> were the one to dispatch her.”</p><p>“Yes, well… once it started I <em>needed</em> to stop it.”</p><p>Lux smirked. “What’s your plan with her, then?”</p><p>“You know <em>exactly</em> the plan with her,” Octavio replied, allowing himself a small grin as he watched the other three octolings proceed into the kettle. “I’ll explain further when we actually get there. I’ve got big plans for her and her history as a human.”</p><p>“Hm. They’re twelve thousand years dead, boss. Are you sure anything she <em>or</em> they have to offer will be beneficial? Octarian scientists have already deciphered the human language and alphabet.”</p><p>“Have we? Since when?” Octavio raised an eyebrow, and gestured toward the kettle, moving toward and then dropping inside.</p><p>“Surface spies smuggled that initial research down, from what I understand,” Lux continued once she and Octavio arrived on the other side. “Teams down here did the rest.”</p><p>The kettle had taken them to an ‘exterior’ space carved into the rock. An ornate doorway opposite the team led into the private areas of Palais Takowasa itself - kitchens, sleeping quarters, bathing areas, meeting rooms, and of course the King’s private quarters.</p><p>“Ahaaa,” Octavio said with an air of realisation, nodding. He gestured the team forward into the palace, looking relieved now that he was finally home. “Lily must have given that information to the Inklings, then.”</p><p>“And your scientific contacts brought it down to HQ.” Lux grinned. “I suppose your human could have her uses, then. Besides the usual,” she added with a smirk and a wink.</p><p>“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” the DJ commented, but grinned back at her.</p><p>The group turned a corner in the elaborate hallways of the palace, and Octavio stopped by a seemingly random door. This door, looking just like the others they had passed in their short walk, led into Octavio’s bedroom.</p><p>“Right, I need to freshen up,” he said to them, “so I’ll leave you here. Respawn Lily out in the compound and put her in holding for a bit while I sort things out here and, well, figure out what we’re going to do with her.”</p><p>“Will do, boss.” Lux saluted him, and her team behind her did the same. Her other hand curled around the jar at her hip. “Welcome home.”</p><p>“Thank you. Thanks for breaking me out, team. I’ll have your orders in the morning. Dismissed.” Saluting them with a tentacle, Octavio then deftly opened the door into his quarters and disappeared inside.</p><hr/><p>The Cephalon HQ compound, lined with rock-solid brick walls, housed three separate yet integrated entities.</p><p>Fort Cephalon - the primary training grounds of high-ranking Octarians (mostly Octolings) and rising stars in the Octarian military.</p><p>Central Intelligence - the ‘home of information’. The forward squads’ eye in the sky, and the link between the individuals on the surface stealing or copying secrets from the Inklings, and their counterparts back home.</p><p>And the Palais Takowasa - home of the ruler of Octopia, its general… and its entertainment.</p><p>Though the area around the three entities was walled off - save for a gate leading into Cephalon City which was overseen by two Octotroopers - the area between them was often used as a social space between members of one establishment or another. It seemed the only lit area in the city - bathed in the glow of the palace. Often one walking through would see many different Octarians walking about, talking, or engaging in training exercises.</p><p>At this very late hour, barely anyone was around as Forward Squad Ceph strode from the front doors of the Palais and down the steps into the courtyard, with Lux now actively holding Lily’s jar in her clawed hand as they headed toward a respawn point - a sickly purple color, the ink color of the Octarians.</p><p>“Now remember, team,” Lux said in Octarian as they strode toward their goal. “This girl speaks in <em>Inklish</em>, though she has been known to speak the human English language. You want to speak to her, use one of those dialects.”</p><p>“And if we <em>don’t</em>?” Mori asked with a small chuckle.</p><p>“More power to you,” was Lux’s reply.</p><p>They reached the respawn point and glanced over the flowing ink’s surface inside.</p><p>“Alright. Respawning her in 5.”</p><p>Lux took the jar in both hands, glancing down at the little spirit that had been trapped inside that had endured its journey. The squid inside was clearly fearful, worried for what her captors would do to her.</p><p>With a smirk, the octoling took the jar’s lid in her other hand and spun it open, the lid clattering to the floor.</p><p>And before the spirit could attempt to escape from the jar, Lux knelt by the respawning pool and dunked the jar into the flowing ink. She removed the now-empty jar from the pool and placed it on the ground.</p><p>And she, and her team, waited.</p><hr/><p>Lily could feel almost immediately that something was wrong as she was reformed.</p><p>She felt ill. Was that the fear? She wasn’t sure. But as her hands gripped the lip of the respawn point and she pulled herself from the Octarian ink, a series of awful sensations washed through her body.</p><p>She suddenly felt as if her insides were burning. The ink that she had ingested through the reforming process was not as pleasant as that from the surface. It was like she had been poisoned. Surely they had intended this. God, her insides felt as if they were on fire, it was– oh god–</p><p>The inkling had barely managed to climb out of the pool before she was sick.</p><p>On all fours, trembling, her captors had flinched and backed away as the pool of sickly blue and bright purple ink, immiscible, never quite blending, grew beneath her.</p><p>The octolings hadn’t quite expected that reaction. They’d never seen respawning have an effect like that on a creature.</p><p>It took a minute for the initial wave of illness to pass, and Lily stayed in that position, taking deep breaths of the stale-tasting underground air and attempting to cough out the awful taste in her mouth. She still felt a fire inside of her, consuming her body, but after the initial flash, it no longer felt like something simply too hot for her body to contain.</p><p>For now.</p><p>Ceph Squad inched closer as they watched to see if she would be sick again. After a minute of two, when it seemed that she wouldn’t, Lily was hauled up to her feet.</p><p>The ill feeling intensified as a Disruptor was quickly placed on her back - vibrating her entire being and preventing her from changing into a squid to attempt escape. “Ggghh… P-please, where are you taking me…” she asked, woozy and tired.</p><p>“Holding,” said Lux simply in Inklish. “Until the King needs you.”</p><p>She moved ahead as two of her team grabbed her arms on either side and roughly led her into the fort barracks. The roller octoling followed along from behind them.</p><p>They did not at all trust her not to make a run for it.</p><hr/><p>The nearest cell door inside was opened and Lily was shoved in, and before she could stop stumbling from the momentum, it had shut with a metal clang.</p><p>As she faced them again, still feeling ill, three of them were already walking off. One had lit a candle opposite her cell, providing her with a minimal light, dancing, flickering. The remaining octo, the leader, eyed her through her glasses. “Someone will retrieve you,” she said.</p><p>As she began to walk off, Lily had a flash as she remembered something about them. “Hey!” she yelled at the exiting octoling, slightly slurred as she held her stomach. “You look familiar. Did I fight you last year?”</p><p>The leader paused, and after a moment slowly turned towards her. Examining her silently.</p><p>“Hey,” Lily repeated.</p><p>The octoling’s eyes reached her own. Lily could feel her gaze on her through the black shades, the slowly pulsing red light over its red eye staring right into her.</p><p>And then the octoling smirked at her.</p><p>Without a further sound, she left the room.</p><p>Lily was alone. Left to herself.</p><p>Trapped in a small cell with no lights, no windows, three solid rock walls…</p><p>She sighed deeply, and slumped down on the small metal bed provided, holding her stomach and burying her head in her other hand. She still felt as if she had been poisoned, and though purging had helped, her body still felt hot and she still felt weak. And the constant hum of the Disruptor meant that nothing was quite settling down.</p><p>How on earth had the simple act of respawning done this to her?</p><p>It’s not like ink pools had done this to her before. She’d shared an ink pool with her octoling colleague Agent Eight, even - and had no ill effects. <em>Why now?</em></p><p>
  <em>…I suppose if I’m going to be down here, I’ll find out eventually.</em>
</p><p>Lily took a deep breath of the cool air, trying to calm her mind. There was no point trying to soothe her body - whatever ink was flowing in her veins was going to be there for a while.</p><p>
  <em>Well… first thing’s first. Now that I have a second, I need to radio in.</em>
</p><p>She didn’t have the radio on her anymore, but she did have her phones. As she reached in her pocket for her squid-shaped phone, she hoped that she–</p><p>Her pocket was empty.</p><p>She bit her lip and tried her other pocket. Empty too. <em>Uh oh.</em></p><p>She didn’t usually keep anything in her butt pocket, but she tried anyway. Nada.</p><p>
  <em>Fuck.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>This is bad. Really bad.</em>
</p><p>It seemed then she had no access to the outside world.</p><p>Lily hoped desparately that her attempted distress call earlier, back on the surface, had reached someone.</p><p>Because if not… how long would it take for one of her friends to realise she was missing?</p><p>Forget that - how long to find out <em>Octavio was free</em>?</p><p>She wondered what his plan was. Was it simply to return home? Why the secrecy around his departure? Was he <em>that</em> concerned that the New Squidbeak Splatoon would come after him?</p><p>Even so - did he really not trust that she would keep her mouth shut? Why did these octolings get involved? Why were they treating her so roughly? What was up with the respawning pool?</p><p>What had he done to warrant him being stuck in that snowglobe in the first place, anyway?</p><p>She began to pace nervously about the cell.</p><p><em>I think I might have been told once…</em> The memory of what she had been told though was difficult to recall - lost somewhere in the blur of time between the period of her arrival in the world of Inkopolis, and that business with Commander Tartar.</p><p>
  <em>Whatever had happened before must have been real serious…</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Just what is he going to do with me?</em>
</p><p>Lily became aware that there was no other noise in the jail. <em>Am I alone?</em> She stood slowly, and walked up to the cell bars. “Anyone else here?” she asked the darkness beyond her cell.</p><p>She waited a few seconds, but got nothing in reply. No voices, no footsteps not even the quiet breaths of someone trying not to be discovered.</p><p>Besides herself, she was truly alone.</p><p>And all she could do was wait until she was called for.</p><hr/><p>Someone came to retrieve her an hour or so later. Two more Octarians, one an Octoling, broke the silence inside the holding area as they walked in and arrived at her cell.</p><p>“Get up,” the Octoling said, in simple Inklish. Like the squad that had captured her, she wore the black shades with the red light over her eye. “The King will see you.”</p><p>Lily was placed into cuffs and led through several corridors. They left the building they were in, and Lily could now see that they were in the midst of an underground city - albeit one were the only lights were provided by the massive globe in the ceiling of this particular cave pocket… and the grand building her captors seemed were leading her toward.</p><p>She found this odd, but it hadn’t quite clicked why to her yet.</p><p>It wasn’t long before she was marched into DJ Octavio’s throne room, before the King. He was in the middle of conversation, again in the Octarian language, with one of the guards at his side, but his eyes lit up at the sight of Lily.</p><p>Octavio looked tired, noted Lily. As she was. She estimated nearly two hours had passed since she had gone to visit him on the surface, making it about 11PM.</p><p>He called out to the group surrounding Lily, and after he had spoken they had dispersed and left the room.</p><p>“Lily! Ayo!” Octavio called to her, fluidly switching to Inklish. “Welcome to my digs! How ya settlin’ in?”</p><p>Lily watched him as she carefully stepped closer. He looked more relaxed here than she’d ever seen him. She supposed, after all, that was because they were on his turf now. “I, uh… I didn’t realise I was coming with you,” she replied bluntly.</p><p>“Gahahah! You thought, after all the music, chat and even the flirting,” the Octobot King waggled his eyebrows at her, “that I would leave you behind? You’ll make an excellent addition to our music scene! Your knowledge could advance Octarian research even further forward! And besides…” His face took on a very smug, smirky quality. “Don’t think I’m not going to make good on your various ‘offers’, my dear.”</p><p>Lily’s face flushed beet red and she turned away in embarassment, to the laughter of Octavio and his guards.</p><p>“I must admit though… As glad as I am to have you here with us, you being here is… for my safety.”</p><p>Lily blinked, turning back to him. “For… <em>your</em> safety?”</p><p>“While we may be friends, I am still painfully aware that you are one of those blasted Squidbeak Agents first.” Octavio’s glance shifted, staring off into the distance.</p><p>“And…?” Lily was still somewhat confused. “Yeah, I understand you probably did bad things before I even got here, but—”</p><p>“Oh, Lily, you naive soul…” He sighed. “Even if you had just let me leave… I imagine as soon as your friends found out they would be down here massacring my people again, and I wouldn’t have a chance to enjoy my freedom before they were back at my door…” Octavio looked away for a moment, thinking of other things.</p><p>But, after a moment, he shook himself, and his usual self had returned. “Anyway, we’ll not dwell on that! You will be under my employ for the time being. I will arrange for lodgings and an induction.” His eyes lit up, thinking forward. “First things first, we’ll need to bring power back to the rest of Octopia. Then I think a grand concert at the Amphitheater should raise morale. You and me. It’s time we collaborated on something <em>big</em>, Lily.”</p><p>Lily stared at him, considering the plan. Considering where she was, and that the guards posted in this room having spears and doubtless other weaponry, and the fact that she was locked out of her squid form, she didn’t have many options. “I mean… if I have to stay, then… that all sounds well and good. But just… Octavio. DJ. Please consider the ‘solar’ conversation we had before. Alright? I know power’s a priority, but… you’re just going to give… <em>us</em>, the Squidbeaks, a reason to come back down here if you try to take Inkopolis’s power.”</p><p>“I <em>know</em>, but we can’t just take your word for it and hope for the best, human! We need <em>some</em> sort of power injection in the meantime! That Great Zapfish they have up on the surface is one of <em>the</em> best power sources we know of right now and the longer our people go without a larger power source, the worse off they’ll be!”</p><p>Lily stopped. He had a point - she didn’t know how big Octopia actually was. Surely places like this were powered by regular Zapfishes, right? Ones they’d stolen - maybe <em>had</em> to steal - and she supposed Inkopolis found it managed just fine without one missing here or there. They had to operate without battery storage though, where they clearly needed something, perhaps multiple somethings… Lily found herself struggling with how to reply.</p><p>“I… I don’t have an answer for that. Just please try to avoid it. We will find you something, promise. If I have to trust you, Tavi, then you <em>need</em> to trust me.”</p><p>Octavio sighed, and shared a roll of his eyes with his guards while Lily wasn’t looking. “Very well, my dear Lily. For now, we should get you acquainted with your new home. Tonight you will share my quarters, and I’ll arrange for guest quarters in this palace to be made available to you come the morning. Okay?”</p><p>Lily looked up at him, and with a sigh, nodded. “Understood, Octavio.”</p><p>“Good, good!” Octavio grinned at her. “Now then, I’ll have you escorted there. I’m sure you, like I, are very tired. I’ll be with you shortly, I have a bit more business to attend to.” He then spoke to one of his guards in Octarian, and after his instruction the tentacle creature departed its post and moved toward Lily, pointing her toward one of the doorways with the tip of its head.</p><p>Lily obediently began moving along.</p><p>“Hey! Hang on a second.” Both of them looked towards Octavio, who was searching around his throne for something. “Gotta get those cuffs off… ah, here we are. Catch!” He lobbed a small key in the direction of the Octarian, who caught it in its tentacle. It pulled Lily’s arms toward its body, but then stopped and glanced toward the King with a concerned look.</p><p>The King nodded, and said something in response in Octarian. Lily wished she could understand the language.</p><p>With a nod, the guard deftly inserted the key into the handcuffs’ lock, and turned. Immediately Lily felt the cuffs open, and she pulled them off, nervously watching the creatures around her as she rubbed her sore wrists. They tensed, but otherwise didn’t react - only the guard behind her, who again pointed Lily in the direction of the doorway.</p><p>She quietly followed the guard’s order.</p><hr/><p>Lily was shoved through the door into DJ Octavio’s private quarters. Immediately after, she heard the door shut and lock behind her.</p><p>The room was, quite simply, magnificent.</p><p>It was quite a grand bedroom - gold marble columns in the corners, polished rock checkerboard flooring, and a white chiseled ceiling converged around a large four-poster bed, atop a soft red shag carpet - strangely off-center, leaving plenty of blank space to the right side - filled only with a few chairs to one corner.</p><p><em>A lot of space where ‘fun’ could be had</em>, Lily bet herself.</p><p>On the left wall was an open doorway into what looked like the King’s private bathroom, similarly grandiose. She walked over to it and peered inside, seeing the usual amenities and quite a large bathtub inside - more of a tub than a bath. Lily supposed it had to be, for an octopus of his size.</p><p>There was no other doorways to leave the room, and because she was underground, no windows.</p><p>She walked back to the door she had been pushed through, and experimentally tried the door. Of course, it wouldn’t open. “Anyone there?” she said to nobody in particular.</p><p>A few angry, muffled Octarian wahs and burbles sounded in response.</p><p>The door was being watched.</p><p>She well and truly was in the trap.</p><p>“Ffuuuuck.”</p><p>Lily stepped away from the door, lifting her hands to her face and letting out a deep sigh. <em>Nothing left but to eat the cheese.</em></p><p>She sat down on the King’s bed and waited.</p><p>About fifteen minutes passed of pacing about the lavish bedroom before she heard activity outside of the door, and DJ Octavio slid into the room. “Good evening, my dear,” he said as his demeanor visibly changed, becoming more relaxed.</p><p>Lily heard the door lock behind him.</p><p>He crossed the floor to her, and his tentacles wrapped up around her and pulled her to his body. “You have no idea how much it means to me, to have you here,” he softly spoke.</p><p>“Again, Octavio, you brought me here. <em>Against my will</em>, might I add.” Lily’s emotions were conflicted, but she felt cold toward him as she spoke.</p><p>“Aw, c’mon kiddo…” The octopus held her tighter. “I told you, I don’t have a choice in the matter. What about all the time we’ve spent together?”</p><p>“That’s one thing, this is another!” Lily snapped at him, pushing against him, but his thick appendages prevented her from escaping his hold. “Tonight you’re asking me to throw away everything I had before! Don’t you see?!”</p><p>“Lily, I am not, why would–”</p><p>“‘Come live with me, Lily’! ‘Put your knowledge to use for us’!” Lily struggled angrily against him, prompting Octavio to only hold her tighter, the tip of another tentacle rubbing over her head. “You know I live with my partner! You <em>know</em> it’s taken me a year to settle into living in this world!”</p><p>“I <em>know</em>!” Octavio released her from his embrace, holding her at tentacles’ length with two of the appendages, trying to project a reassuring expression. “But I’ve been trapped in the one spot for a year, and <em>I</em> want to return home, and I don’t want to <em>lose</em> you and everything we’ve built!”</p><p>“Why would you think I wouldn’t keep coming to visit you?!”</p><p>“Because your friends would put two and two together and forbid you once they realised I was gone!”</p><p>Lily paused, silent for a few seconds before creasing her brow. “The hell are you talking about…?”</p><p>“…Lily…” Octavio’s expression shifted, and his eyes seemed to show worry. <em>That was different</em>, Lily thought to herself. “Did your friends ever <em>know</em> that you were seeing me…?”</p><p>“…Not so regularly, I think…”</p><p>“…Listen to me, Lily. Suppose they found out I left to return home. And then they find out you were seeing me on the reg. Who do you think they’d blame for letting me go…?”</p><p>“…No way…” Lily’s expression began to fall.</p><p>“What do you think they’d <em>do</em>, thinking you’d freed <em>me</em>, an <em>enemy</em> of your New Squidbeak Splatoon…?”</p><p>Lily was silent. She was confused, but just the thought of her friends abandoning or hurting her over a misunderstanding like that…</p><p>Because she kept quiet…</p><p>“Lily…” Octavio started again, speaking carefully. “I know things are scary right now. This isn’t what either of us wanted. And I know my soldiers are a little overzealous. But we’ll figure this out. You and me.”</p><p>“…Are you sure?” Lily stepped toward him again, now nervous and afraid.</p><p>“I’m sure, my dear. I have to get my kingdom back in order, but I promise you: I <em>will</em> return you to the surface, and I <em>will</em> find some way to make our relationship work, <em>and</em> keep your friends happy. It will be difficult, it might take time, but you and I will find a way through this.”</p><p>The inkling slowly nodded. “…O-okay…”</p><p>And after a few moments, she leaned into his embrace. Octavio slowly wrapped his warm tentacles around her again, and this time she reciprocated, still nervous but more willing this time. His words seemed to comfort her.</p><p>Octavio, too, relaxed as he felt that the inkling girl had been pacified. Part of him felt some guilt about having to lie to her like this, to get her to come on board. He hated to admit it, but he did have <em>some</em> feelings for her…</p><p>In the end though, he’d ensure that she didn’t have to hide her feelings from him.</p><p>He’d ensure that she would stay.</p>
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